Vicious Cycles of Identifying and Mathematizing: A Case Study of the Development of Mathematical Failure
ARTICLE
Einat Heyd-Metzuyanim
Journal of the Learning Sciences Volume 24, Number 4, ISSN 1050-8406
Abstract
This study uses a new communicational lens that conceptualizes the activity of learning mathematics as interplay between mathematizing and identifying in order to study how the emotional, social, and cognitive aspects of learning mathematics interact with one another. The proposed framework is used to analyze the case of Idit, a girl who started out as a high achiever in 7th-grade math and ended up failing that same subject in 9th grade, complaining of severe "mathematics anxiety." This article traces the narratives endorsed by Idit's parents and teacher, which form the background for the development of her ritual participation in mathematical discourse. Next it attempts to link Idit's ritual participation in a course I taught with her eventual failure in mathematics. The mechanism behind this failure is conceptualized as a vicious cycle that thrives on the basis of a ritualistic discourse motivated mainly by grades and other instrumental motives for learning mathematics. The analysis of this case gives rise to a model of how mathematical identities of failure may develop hand in hand with the failure to learn new mathematical skills.
Citation
Heyd-Metzuyanim, E. (2015). Vicious Cycles of Identifying and Mathematizing: A Case Study of the Development of Mathematical Failure. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 24(4), 504-549. Retrieved August 8, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/174946/.
![](https://editlib-media.s3.amazonaws.com/sources/eric.png)
ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.
Copyright for this record is held by the content creator. For more details see ERIC's copyright policy.
Keywords
- Academic Failure
- case studies
- Discourse Analysis
- discovery learning
- Emotional Response
- Foreign Countries
- Interviews
- Learning Motivation
- Learning Processes
- Mathematics Achievement
- Mathematics Anxiety
- mathematics education
- Mathematics Skills
- Middle School Students
- Secondary School Mathematics
- student participation
- Student Responsibility